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Five PlayStation E3 2016 Predictions - PS Post

As is slowly becoming tradition before a big PlayStation press conference, I give you my five predictions as to what they'll announce, discuss and show off.

Horizon Zero Dawn Will Be Shown Off Fully

With the recent announcement that Gran Turismo Sport is coming out in mid-November, I - along with many others - had predicted Horizon's delay. I think that will be re-iterated at E3, probably with further apologies, before we get a full proper, extended look at the world and how combat works.

In the new trailer that went live with the delay-announcement, we got to hear a little more about the protagonist, Aloy, and her story, which is also, presumably, the main story of the game. While I think most people are probably already sold - honestly this game looks incredible - I imagine E3 being a good oppertunity to tell the non-PlayStation audience - and even the wider non-gaming audience - why you need this game, and why you need to buy a PS4 to play it.

Hence, why we see more of the world, and potentially the combat. As in Cormac McCarthy's The Road, The Walking Dead comics or TV show or, from video games, The Last Of Us, a post-apocalyptic story has the world as a character in its roster, and it can be more important than the actual protagonists themselves, and certainly more interesting. If you cast your mind back to E3 last year, when Horizon was revealed for the first time, you'll remember seeing glimpses of our "present day" world vs the overgrown world that Aloy and her people inhabit. To me, this sounds very cool, and something that I think should be properly shown to people before the game comes out - and something I'd just really love to have a proper look at.

Whether we're treated to this or not, I'm sure Horizon will be there in some capacity as it promises to be PlayStation's big game for the first half of next year and, hopefully, the first in a long lineage of games in a series.

Major PSN Updates - Including Name Change

If you've been onto the PS Store via your PlayStation 4 recently, you'll have noticed an update to the games' pages. While some don't seem to be huge fans, I think it does symbolise a change in the way PlayStation is tackling the PSN, by which I mean that they're beginning to update it; something we've already seen with wishlists and being able to follow prominent people.

But, in all honesty, the real reason I think this is going to be announced is the absence of any of the usual chatter about it from the mainstream gaming-media, in other words people actually in the know, rather than me making educated guess. Usually someone predicts that name changes will be announced at E3 and, while I could be reading into this too much, I think the lack of any talk about it (from the sites I listen to) potentially shows that the option is coming.

I think there will be other changes with it too, but, of course, this is the most significant. While this would, perhaps, be an announcement better for PSX this year (assuming it happens again) I think it's such a huge thing - or at least the PSN updates are - that E3 wouldn't not make sense for such an announcement.

Bungie Announces Destiny 2

The week, Bungie announced the latest DLC pack for Destiny. I'm not going to talk about it, what's in it or anything it does because I don't think that is of significance. What is, however, is when the announcement came: in the week before E3. Surely that's something you'd announce at the PlayStation conference, not on the Thursday before, right? I think this paves the way for a logo, acknowledgement that it exists, or small teaser of Destiny 2 to take a major place at Sony's presser, instead of the DLC announcement and hence why it came the week before.

The original Destiny came out in September 2014, so it does seem as though September 2016 would be a great time to get the next instalment out, especially - as I understand - several followups were planned even before the game released.

The Last Guardian Release Date For August

According to Wikipedia, The Last Guardian has been in development since 2007. That's a long time. It was formally announced in 2009. That's also a long time. For a game from an unproven series - unlike something like the now 10-year-old Final Fantasy 15 - to stick in the minds of people for that long and not become over-hyped seems impossible. No matter what Team Ico delivers, however good it really is, that wait can't be forgotten and they can't get that time back or get away from all the analysis from the very little we actually know.

Having something teased, put into the public consciousness, then backed away from for literally years while everyone's minds went crazy thinking about all the possibilities, and predicting each and every year that the came would come out, then it not, but still having had the conversation about it is not a good thing. Because of this, it just needs to come out and soon. I don't think it'll do that well, I don't think it will review as well as everyone wants it to, and I think people will be disappointed. That said, I, like many others, will buy it out of sheer curiosity, but it does really need to come out.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Release Date For PS4

I think this is a pretty safe bet. Given it was confirmed after the outrage from the initial announcement of Xbox-exclusivity, and people certainly haven't forgotten about it, I'm sure we'll get a date at and that it'll feature all the DLC and extra goodies.

The interesting question is where this announcement will come from. Square Enix don't have a conference this year, so it won't be there. I can't imagine Sony, having been abandoned by the Tomb Raider franchise after the original launched on PlayStation, won't be too eager to give it too much time. So where? Maybe just a PS Blog post at some point during the show, casually dropping the fact. Or, maybe I'm wrong and all is forgiven. Come Sony's conference, we'll finally find out. One thing's for sure, though: I've waited an extra year to play Rise Of The Tomb Raider, and I can't wait to jump in.